Category: Landsforeningen Autisme

Today, Princess Marie was at Nordea to meet with employees that have autism as Patron of the National Association for Autism. She was able to talk to them and learn more about their daily tasks and work. UPDATE 08/02: Nordea sent me a press release and a new photo.

“Her Royal Highness Princess Marie visited the Automation office space, where the princess had a chance to greet all our colleagues in the Automation team and have in-depth talks with our colleagues with autism.

One of our colleagues showed the princess our automation infrastructure where the programs modules to ensure that all our internal services can be automated. Another colleague showed how services are created to perform Nordea’s internal banking services and the self-service portal where customers order different items. A third colleague told about his participation in #Hack19. Hackathon is a two-day event where ideas are developed by employees across Nordea.

The princess was keen to learn more – she asked questions about favourite code language, where they had worked before and how it was to work for Nordea. Christoffer from Automation governance says: “It was nice that the patron of the National Association for Autism showed interest in how we feel about working at Nordea. Princess Marie seemed genuinely interested in what we do, and she was very nice to talk to.”

We hosted a small reception where the princess had the opportunity to have more informal chats with all the team members. “Personally, I hope the visit will create more focus on employing colleagues with autism, both at Nordea and elsewhere,” says Majbritt Gyldengren, who is the coordinator for Nordea’s employees with autism.

The hiring of our seven colleagues was conducted through Specialisterne, which is a socially innovative company working to enable one million jobs for people with autism and similar challenges through social entrepreneurship, corporate sector engagement and a global change in mindset.”

Marie wore her old Ralph Lauren jacket with her Sergio Rossi boots. Both her earrings and her brooch are repeats. I can’t tell anything more about her outfit.

Princess Marie had two unannounced events last week. On January 30th, following the news of her future move to Paris, she attended a charity fashion show hosted by Danish designer Jesper Hovring.

Princess Marie attended a charity fashion show tonight during Copenhagen Fashion Week. She said moving to France was an exciting challenge for her children! More info and photos of the event to come hopefully. https://t.co/yBWXD9uVPc

On January 31st, Princess Marie met with director Marcus Mandal and creative director / CEO Klaus Schiang-Franck from Citizen Dane. The producing company made a short film about autism in 2017 and Princess Marie had attended the premiere back then.

She wore a new Theory blazer (with thanks to Elena) with her Tara Jarmon blouse and Zara pants.

As part of our 2018 Recap, let’s take a look at Princess Marie’s events for her main Patronages this year. Just click on the date to read each post about each event.

AIDS-Fondet:

Compared to last year’s 4 events related to the Fondation she attended in 2017, Princess Marie only attended one event this year, the ceremony on World AIDS Day commemorating those who lost their lives to AIDS on December 1st.

On May 7th, Princess Marie visited Katrinebjergskole which is a model school for the Danish NEST program. The NEST program is established in New York and is based on the idea that children are more alike than different.

On June 22nd, Princess Marie visited two projects sponsored by the Danish Association for Autism.

On November 8th, Princess Marie attended the Scottish Autism 50th Anniversary Conference and the following dinner. This was one of my favorite posts to write this year!

On November 13th, Princess Marie attended the Stop Wasting Food dinner. This dinner will become an annual tradition.

Danish Emergency Management Agency (DEMA):

Princess Marie is an honorary member of DEMA since 2011 and she works as a special project assistant since 2016 but she also attends public events for the organization.

On January 4th, Princess Marie met with Dutch experts to learn about their initiatives to prevent fires and flooding and protect the population.

On June 6th, Princess Marie attended a memorial ceremony to commemorate the 25th anniversary of an attack that took place in Maglaj, Bosnia-Herzegovina, killing two members of the Danish Emergency Management Agency and their local translator.

Today, Princess Marie was in Glasgow, Scotland to attend the Scottish Autism 50th Anniversary Conference as Patron of the Danish Association for Autism.

Scottish Autism was established in 1968 by a group of parents and they are now the largest provider of autism-specific services in Scotland and a leading authority and advocate for good autism practice. Scottish Autism aims to “help those diagnosed with autism to lead full and enriched lives and become valuable members of the community they live in. We also seek to share our knowledge and expertise with parents, carers and other professionals in order to support the development of skills and strategies needed to provide the best care and support for autistic people. Building partnerships locally, nationally and internally provides us with the exciting opportunity to learn and share our knowledge of good autism practice with other countries. “

Scottish Autism’s Deputy CEO Charlene Tait is a member of the Council of Administration for Autism-Europe which is an association gathering almost 90 national and regional organizations advocating for the rights of autistic people from 30 European countries. Autism affects an estimated 50,000 people in Scotland or 1 in 100 people. In Denmark there are approximatively 70,000 people diagnosed with autism, it is more than 1 in 100.

Scottish Autism offers a wide range of support services for people with autism in Scotland: “We provide a wide range of flexible and innovative support services for children and adults across Scotland, each with a focus on improving quality of life. Central to this is recognizing that each person has a unique set of needs. We create personalized support plans which are based on an individual’s own strengths and motivations and on achieving outcomes which are meaningful to them.”

These support services include children services such as outreach support, respite, and short breaks services and education service to “take the time to build up a deep understanding of each young person, taking into account their processing and thinking style in order to maximize their learning potential. Our dedicated team of practitioners receives regular autism specific training and they are equipped with the knowledge and skills to enable each child and young person to have positive life experiences.”

But the association also focuses on support for adults such as supported living services which aim to help developing independence but also transition support services that aim “to assess an individual’s needs and build the skills and strategies required to enable them to move on to the most appropriate, sustainable and longer-term setting.”

Another important part of Scottish Autism’s support services is dedicated to the families in order to help them understand autism better and to help them whenever they need it but also to the professionals. Indeed the association has an advice line as well as a toolbox and training service available.

In order to celebrate their 50th anniversary, Scottish Autism organized several events all year with the big focus being this international two-day conference “Innovation in Autism Practice: The Future is Calling”.

The program of the conference was influenced by “a contemporary view that embraces autism as a developmental difference and focuses on a capacity view of the individual”. Scottish Autism also sponsored The Participatory Autism Research Collective (PARC) to host an Autism Fringe which included workshops, discussions and information sharing.

Princess Marie, as Patron of the Danish Association for Autism, made the opening speech after the welcoming speech by Charlene Tait. Sadly, the Court hasn’t updated Princess Marie’s speech yet but I’ll update the post as soon as they do. We do know she talked about the value of sharing knowledge and experience as well as the importance of working together to improve the lives of autistic people.

A passionate advocate for greater support & rights for autistic people, HRH Princess Marie is patron of Autism Denmark.

We are honoured to have HRH Princess Marie opening our conference & later meeting with Iceberg Film Productions – a group of autistic SA film makers #SAconf18pic.twitter.com/Q7efKS9oAP

Stigma is not a product of ignorance but of cultural social constructs of what is ‘the ideal person’. Well said Prof Rob Roy Grinker @scottishautism#SAConf18 What matters is not the word but the social/cultural implications of the word – autism.

About Princess Marie attending the conference, Charlene Tait said: “We had the pleasure of meeting with Princess Marie at last year’s ‘Meeting of Minds’ autism event in Copenhagen to discuss a number of areas where Scotland and Denmark are working together in close collaboration. She is a real champion of the autism community and has been a great supporter of the joint working going on between ourselves and Autism Denmark. We look forward to welcoming her to Scotland and to hearing her speak at this year’s conference.”

Princess Marie indeed attended the Meeting of Minds conference last year in Copenhagen and I believe she will attend this year’s Meeting of Minds conference on November 29th although this wasn’t confirmed by the Court yet. This year’s theme is ‘Autism in Doubt’. According to the Danish Association for Autism’s website, some of the topics that will be discussed at the conference are :

After the keynote speeches at the Scottish Autism Conference, seminars started while Princess Marie left the Grand Central Hotel where the conference was held to go to the Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum along with Deputy CEO Charlene Tait. The museum is part of an initiative along with the other eight Glasgow museums to become more autism aware. This year they launched a new programme of early openings, autism-friendly workshops, and resources. In 2017, three of those museums already made improvements and now have trained Autism Champions to raise staff awareness, visual storyboards and pre-visit information to help plan the visit and sensory kits that can be borrowed.

At the Museum, Princess Marie met with students from the Iceberg Productions including Jason Donaldson, Daniel Page, Lee Roibrown, Emma Stanley and John Sapseed. According to Scottish Autism’s press release: “Iceberg Productions is a group of young autistic film-makers which is based at Blue Central, one of Scottish Autism’s Day Services. This project is led by John Innes and Ian Noble of the Untold Motion Picture Company. Ian and John have considerable experience in film-making, photography and sound recording and work closely with Scottish Autism, running a number of film-making taster courses for the individuals supported by the charity. The aspiration is to enable autistic individuals who are interested in film-making to be part of an in-house production company.”

One of the students, Jason, was able to interview Princess Marie and he then took a selfie with her which was shared on his school’s twitter account. Jason is a student at the New Struan School which is a day and residential school for students between 5 and 19 years old. Their vision is “to enable our pupils to become included, confident learners in the community. We know that young people with autism can be successful learners and we strive to provide the structured and supportive environment which enables them to reach their full potential. ”

When asked by Jason what was the best thing about being a Princess, Marie said : “The best thing is to be out for a day like this and meet people like those I’ve met here today in Scotland.”

The school even has a rabbit named Freddie and he has his own twitter account! He even congratulated Jason for his meeting with Princess Marie and said that the class had been checking Twitter all day to see if there was any photo of Jason! Jason said Marie was lovely and it looks like it was an amazing moment for everyone involved!

Princess Marie and the students posed for a photo in front of their taxis at the end of the event and Glasgow Taxis tweeted that they were honored to be transporting Marie today.

Honoured to be transporting HRH Princess Marie of Denmark today, who is visiting Glasgow to speak at Scottish Autism’s international 50th Anniversary conference. A passionate advocate for greater support and rights for autistic people, HRH is patron of Autism Denmark. #SAconf18pic.twitter.com/3YFLWX3hTJ

In the evening, Princess Marie attended the evening dinner at the Grand Central Hotel which is the Hotel where she stayed. Sadly, there is only one photo so far. I believe Marie wore a new dress but I’m not sure.

In their report about the day, the Danish Association for Autism said: “The Autism National Association expresses its sincere thanks to HKH Princess Marie for the great involvement in the autism area, both nationally and internationally – and for the amazing work of the protector and in the meeting with autistic people and their families. “

For this day in Scotland, Princess Marie wore a fully recycled outfit. She chose to wear a Giorgio Armani double-breasted that she first wore in 2014 and black trousers.

On Friday, Princess Marie visited a project sponsored by the National Association for Autism as Patron as well as the Youth Education Center.

The project ‘Ready to Start’ which aims to help young autistic people getting a job was created in collaboration with the Youth Foundation who helps autistic people since 2007: ‘ ‘Ready to Start’ is a graduation process targeted at the majority of young people with an autism diagnosis. The course is conducted throughout the country in cooperation with a number of educational institutions and partner companies, offering nothing less than job guarantee for the course participants.’

Several Danish companies have accepted to collaborate with the ‘Ready to Start’ program – including Fakta and ILVA – ensuring that every person taking part in the program will have a job in the end.

As Patron of the National Association for Autism since 2011, Princess Marie visited the Fakta store where two young autistic people got a job thanks to the ‘Ready to Start’ program. These two people explained to Princess Marie how important it was for them to have a job, to be a part of the workforce and to meet new people in their everyday life. Since the beginning of the collaboration between Fakta and the ‘Ready to Start’ program, 70 autistic people have been employed at a national level in the chain’s stores.

After her visit to the Fakta store, Princess Marie visited the Youth Education Center -created by the Youth Foundation- where she took part in the graduation ceremony of six students. She then had the opportunity to learn more about the various activities in the education center.

You can see a photo of Marie’s full outfit here and a video of Marie at the event here.

For these events, Princess Marie wore one of her classic outfits. The jacket is old and still UFO but she wore a new blue top by Tara Jarmon. It seems like Tara Jarmon is becoming one of her regular brands now.

Marie also wore the brooch she first wore at Prince Henrik’s funeral. I can’t help but wonder if maybe it was a gift from Prince Henrik but unfortunately, I don’t think we’ll ever get confirmation of the origin of the brooch. It seems that she also wore her Christine Hvelplund ‘H&A’ necklace.

Princess Marie received a warm welcome from the children upon arrival!

Katrinebjergskole is a model school for the Danish NEST program. The NEST program is established in New York and is based on the idea that children are more alike than different. The NEST classes were established in 2016 and autistic students are in class with neurotypical students. (ie students who are not autistic).

Princess Marie had the opportunity to meet with some of the children and their teachers to learn more about their experience in NEST classes.

In the afternoon, Princess Marie was in Grenaa to attend the 25th-anniversary celebrations of Kattegatcentret, of which she is Patron since 2013.

Kattegatcentret is a sea center which opened in 1993 and it has over 250 different animal species. Its mission is to mediate knowledge about the sea to the general public, so more people are able to enjoy, understand and guard the seas.

More about the Kattegatcentret:

“The Kattegatcenter is a charitable fund and is run on a non-profit basis. In addition to the exhibition areas, the Kattegatcenter has an active schools service, which is used by over 12,000 pupils and students each year.

We work with public aquaria and zoos around the world via our memberships of DAZA (Danish Association of Zoos and Aquaria) and the world’s largest zoo and aquaria organization, EAZA (European Association of Zoos and Aquaria). These memberships are very important for our breeding programs and for exchanging animals.”

Princess Marie at the opportunity to visit the center and to meet with the children who were very eager to take part in all the activities set up by the center for its anniversary. She also took part in some of these activities, such as decorating cupcakes- she decorated hers with a starfish- and helping children making animals out of paper.

The aquarium’s logo is a shark and sharks is a huge part of the Kattegatcentret, you can also have a dive in their Oceanarium and give the five shark species a high-five.

For these two events, Princess Marie wore a new dress by Tara Jarmon. This dress has a clover print with puffy short sleeves and a keyhole neckline. She decided to bring some color to her outfit by wearing her orange/red Alexander McQueen jacket first worn in 2015 for an UNESCO meeting in Paris.